Once you have made your decision to choose aligners for the straightening of your teeth, the next big step is to decide on which brand to choose. Today, with the advances in materials and technology, there are several brands of clear aligners available in the market– 32 Watts, Invisalign, Flash orthodontics, ClearPath etc. In order to straighten your teeth using clear aligners, your orthodontist must be well trained in the field and must have had additional training for the same. Though he/she will help you pick the best aligners for you, you must know how to pick the right one as well. Some common factors to look at before deciding on which brand of aligners you must opt for are:
- Accuracy
- Duration of treatment
- The comfort of the trays when they are worn
- Processing time
- Orthodontic invisible braces cost in Delhi
The more accurately designed your aligner trays are, the better they will fit on your upper and lower teeth, and provide the force required to bring about movement of your teeth. This accuracy depends upon the technology used to manufacture these trays. Aligners, being advanced methods of orthodontic treatment, use 3D printing technology to fabricate the trays.
In the very first step after you have decided to choose aligners for your treatment, your orthodontist will either take measurements of your upper and lower teeth or use the latest 3D scanning device to scan your entire mouth – teeth, and the gums, your bite etc. If your orthodontist has taken physical measurements, these are carefully sent to the lab. If your orthodontist has taken scans of your teeth and gums, this automatically gets stored in an application on a laptop, desktop or on the cloud.
Once the records– physical or digital, have been received by the lab they determine your treatment plan using special softwares developed for the purpose. Once this treatment plan has been approved by the in-house orthodontist as well as your orthodontist, he/she will explain the same to you. After your consent to the treatment plan, the lab will send a command to the 3D printer to fabricate the trays according to the design on the software.
Talking of printing, there are different types of 3D printers that are used for different types of dental work – crowns, bridges, veneers, posts, lingual braces, surgeries, implants and aligners. Based on the material, the accuracy needed and the cost involved, the lab decides which type of printing method needs to be used for which purpose. When we look at printing in aligners, the best printing technique that is used by companies like 32 Watts is MJP or MultiJet Printing.
MultiJet Printing is very similar to the regular printer that we use at home and uses an inkjet head very similar to it. The material that needs to be used for the fabrication of the trays flows through the print head in a thin layer. Next, a UV light passes over this material and adheres to the layer before it. This method uses wax or water-soluble material as the support material that is easy to remove without damage or scarring. This technique is used when the lab needs to produce large batches of trays or a product overnight rather than running the lab in three shifts throughout the day. MJP printing has many advantages over other commonly used methods for aligners, especially FDM printing:
- Highly accurate
- Quick production or fabrication
- Uses a separate support material
At 32 Watts, we use this method of printing and so our trays are:
- Very precise and accurate to bring about focussed teeth movements
- Due to the best fit, the teeth movements occur fast, thereby reducing treatment time and giving you quick results
- Due to overnight production of the trays and our lab being located within the country, your aligners will reach you in 2-4 days after your orthodontist’s appointment unlike other brands like Invisalign and ClearPath that have their labs overseas and can take anything between 3-4 months to reach you
The other type of printing that is commonly used for aligners, and you need to be aware and vary of brands using it, is FDM or Fused Deposition Moulding printing. This technique uses an extruded plastic wire to create an object. Though this method is the most cost-effective and reduces the cost of aligners, the accuracy is severely compromised. So, beware of very cheap aligner brands using this printing type because they might seem affordable but they are not as effective as they should be.
Also, the number of materials that can be used with this type of printing technique is limited and therefore, newer, higher-grade materials that can be used for aligners cannot be used with this printing method.
At 32 Watts we use the best quality of materials, highly accurate software and MJP printing method to bring to you the most reliable, accurate, functional, and affordable clear aligners to give you that perfectly aligned smile!!
Have you checked Southridge dental and asked the right questions about clear aligners yet?
